What Voodoo Dolls And Low Blood Sugar Say About Your Relationship

When the clock chimes 5 PM, your normally lovely spouse morphs into a prickly jerk. But it’s not (totally) his fault. Blame low blood sugar for his suddenly thorny disposition, suggests research from Ohio State University.

The study team recruited 107 married couples and asked everyone to rate their relationship satisfaction. The researchers also measured everyone’s evening blood sugar levels, and asked each participant to stick pins into a voodoo doll depending on how angry they were with their spouse. (These researchers clearly have a sense of humor.)

Advertisement

Prevention Newsletters

Compared to people with normal or elevated levels of blood sugar, those with low levels tended to stick more pins into the voodoo dolls. In a follow-up experiment, the low blood sugar people were also more willing to blast their spouses with loud music—regardless of how positively they’d rated their relationship.

There’s a word for this hunger-related anger, says study coauthor Brad Bushman, PhD. “Hangry” (Hungry + Angry). Why do you become hangry? Blood sugar, or glucose, is basically energy, which you brain needs in order to manage emotion and maintain willpower, Bushman explains. When your blood sugar’s low, your brain’s energy stores are depleted, and you have a harder time keeping your temper in check, he adds. (Past research shows your willpower supplies tend to drop throughout the day, which may explain why the time after work and just before dinner is especially fraught with marital peril.)

Most couples already know the solution to this problem: Eat something. Carbohydrate- and protein-heavy foods are the best choices if you’re looking to raise and maintain your blood sugar, says Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, assistant director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition. To ward off those hangry urges, she recommends a small cup of yogurt with fruit, whole grain cereal with fruit, or a banana with almond or peanut butter spread.